20 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
Pakistan, hears that India is threatening to go to war with Pakistan, his shock is
evoked when his hand slips and he cuts a huge gash across the jack-o’-lantern he
has offered to carve. In “A Temporary Matter” Shoba comes in from work, kicks
off her tennis shoes, and leaves them and her bag in a heap on the floor, signal-
ing she no longer cares about this space she shares with her husband. Lahiri
reveals the complicated nature of cultural identity through the use of irony. For
instance, ironies abound in the title story, as the Indian American couple with
three children visit the land of their parents but epitomize “ugly Americans”;
they show no sensitivity to the landscape or the history of the country they are
touring, to the people they meet, nor even among themselves. And in “Sexy”
Miranda, who is American, hears her Indian friend Laxmi describe the pain
her cousin feels because the cousin’s husband is having an affair; yet, she does
not seem to recognize that she could be causing the same pain to her married
boyfriend’s family. In another irony, while she acts selfishly and blindly in hav-
ing the affair, she finds her horizons expanded by her explorations of her lover’s
Indian culture.
In some ways the title (of the collection and of its third story) acts as a
kind of metaphor for what Lahiri as novelist is performing: she interprets the
“maladies” of her characters, translating for readers multiple perspectives to
highlight the complexity of cultural communication and hybridity. First- and
second-generation Indian Americans interact with one another and their rela-
tives in India, an Anglo American woman has an affair with a Bengali man,
and two stories about Indian women are set in India. Lahiri also presents
perspectives from both genders; her protagonists are sometimes male and
sometimes female; sometimes happy in an arranged marriage and sometimes
not; sometimes happy in a marriage of choice and sometimes not. Noelle
Brada-Williams argues that these multiple perspectives are set in a narrative
dialogue of care and neglect, with examples of each playing off the other within
and between stories. For instance, the neglect of the marriage in the first story,
“A Temporary Matter,” is contrasted with the unnamed narrator’s courtesy and
care first for the elderly Mrs. Croft, and then for his new wife. Her perception
spans generations, as well; children play key roles in three stories, while the
final story includes a woman who is 103.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH
- A fruitful topic would be the cross-cultural connections and disconnec-
tions that Lahiri tracks through her stories. Around what types of things do
people of different backgrounds, different religions, connect? In “When Mr.
Pirzada Came to Dine” Mr. Pirzada is from a different country and different
religion from the family he visits; how does Lilia’s list of the many things she
sees that he has in common with her parents explain the connection that is
made? What other elements indicate that Lilia may be too young to under-
stand explain it? What kind of connection is made between Mrs. Croft and
the unnamed narrator of “The Third and Final Continent” despite the vast
differences in their ages and the cultures they have experienced, and why? In